‘Hellcats’ Stars Cheer: Tom Welling Is A Super Exec Producer

As The CW’s ‘Hellcats’ prepares for its Wednesday-night premiere and then hopefully ratings to flip over, the cast already has this to cheer about: ‘Smallville‘ vet Tom Welling makes for one out-of-this-world executive producer.

“Tom is super hands-on,” ‘Hellcats’ lead Aly Michalka raved to Fancast shortly after filming the pilot for the cheerleading drama, which was penned by show runner Kevin Murphy. “He was so encouraging to us as a cast. And being the lead of his own show, he told me what I have to come in the future. He was like, ‘Enjoy the ride.'”

Like ‘Smallville’ was for Welling, ‘Hellcats’ represents onetime Disney darling Michalka’s first network series, “so it was cool to relate to him on that level,” the actress says. “He’s an awesome guy, and the fact that he has been so successful on ‘Smallville’ (now entering its 10th and final season) and is now a producer, good for him!”

Matt Barr similarly praises Welling’s power as an executive producer not content with sitting on the sidelines.

“I thought he might be back in the shadows, watching the monitor, but he was out there blowing the whistle, giving us notes!” the ‘Harper’s Island’ alum tells Fancast. “He really kind of quarterbacked the whole thing. Tom was a great mentor.”

When presented by Fancast with these reports on his hands-on style as a boss, Welling said, “I was there every day, doing whatever I can to make it work and shape it. I directed some of [the pilot], too, so I’m proud of that.”

Now an exec producer on ‘Smallville,’ Welling says he had been wanting to shepherd his own project “for a long time.”

“I really like being a part of the creative side of ‘Smallville’ – they’re very open to ideas and suggestions, so I was like, ‘This is great, and now I want to apply it to something of my own. And here we are. It’s fantastic.”